Big East Cancelling Tournament Only After Playing Half of St. Johns vs Creighton is a Travesty

The sports world is currently frozen as the coronavirus pandemic expands inside the United States. The NBA suspended its season due to Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz testing positive for the virus, which resulted in other leagues like the NHL and MLS have folllowed suit.

When it comes to college basketball, a majority of conferences, such as the Big Ten and SEC, opted to cancel their tournaments altogether. Well, everyone but the BIg East, who opted to have St. Johns and Creighton play a full half of basketball at Madison Square Garden with no fans in attendance before deciding to call the game.

This makes the Big East look like a total joke.

What could they have learned in the span of approximately an hour after tip-off that the entire nation didn't already know Thursday morning? How could they not follow their counterparts around the NCAA world and just cancel the tournament instead of having these teams play despite all the risk?

Let's not forget that Rudy Gobert made a visit to MSG to play the New York Knicks recently. How could the Big East ignore such a glaring fact? It's their job to protect student athletes, and they're failing this test in a way that was utterly preventable.

Instead, the conference opted to go along with it, and will forever have images of the St. John's forlorn mascot sitting alone at the Garden linked to their incompetence forever. In a time of crisis, our best judgment is needed, and the Big East sadly fell short with the sporting world watching.